Lady Eagles are among GMC's top teams

EDISON - With a 7-1 loss at the hands of Hunterdon Central on Saturday, the Edison High School softball team fell to 3-2 on this rain-soaked season.

"Hunterdon Central is usually a tough team that hits the ball really well," Edison head coach Kim Schoemer said. "We were hanging right with them at 1-1, but they eventually opened up and we didn't respond."

The day prior to Saturday's loss, the Eagles snatched its third win of the season with a 16-1 win over a struggling Perth Amboy team as pitcher Kristy Mokar improved to 2-0. Mokar also gave the Eagles a strong offensive game in Saturday's defeat with a pair of doubles and three RBIs. Teammates Megan Nappe and Nicole Steiner both went 2-for-3 in the loss.

"We're hitting the ball pretty well right now with a team batting average of .322," Schoemer said. "Both Megan and Nicole are hitting .400 and our leadoff hitter Krissy Lacik is batting .381. She currently leads the team with eight hits and seven runs. She's been doing a great job of getting on base and Nappe and Steiner are both driving the ball well."

In the team's 8-5 win over Woodbridge, Lacik's leadoff triple set the stage while teammate Stephanie Owsiany turned in a solid effort going 2-3 with a double. The team's other win was an 8-0 victory over East Brunswick.

Pitcher Michelle Jennings picked up the win in the East Brunswick meeting. Jennings is currently 1-2 on the season.

"Michelle looks good so far," Schoemer said. "She seems a lot stronger than she was last season and she's throwing the ball with more consistency. I also think she's a little bit smarter. She'll be matched up against the tougher teams on our schedule."

In the shutout of East Brunswick, Nappe was again swinging a hot stick leading the team with a 3-for-4 performance.

"I've been pleased with our offense and our defense," Schoemer said. "We have committed seven errors through five games, but we've been lucky enough to spread them around. The only time errors really cost us was in this weekend's loss to Hunterdon Central."

The Eagles will look to rebound from Saturday's loss when the team hosts J.P. Stevens today at 3:45 p.m. The team will finish the week with road games at East Brunswick Thursday and Stevens on Friday.

"We have three tough ones back to back," Schoemer said. "Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to lose a lot of our non-division games with all of the recent rainouts so we'll have to be ready to play when it's our day to take the field."